Heaven's Lineup!
by Kyaptain
Summary: Miyuki wakes up having no recollection of who he is except for his name. Warning for mild gore/major character death. Alternate Universe-Angel Beats
1. Door to the Afterlife

**AN**: You don't have to have already watched Angel Beats to enjoy this fic. Things will be changing around in later chapters anyways~

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"Where am I?"

Miyuki was lying flat on his back and felt a throbbing ache on the side of his head.

Struggling to sit up, he felt the need to examine his surroundings. From what he could gather, he was able to conclude he was at some sort of prestigious high school campus. He assumed the uniform he was wearing was part of it as well. It was in the middle of the night with the moon being the only thing lighting up the environment.  
He stood up and dusted off his shirt and pants to continue investigating where he was. Maybe searching around could help him regain any memories since in the current moment, he could not recall even a single thing about his existence except for his name.

He guessed it was around 12:00am-3:00am judging from the placement of the moon. No one seemed to be around to ask questions nor did he have any type of cell phone he could contact a relative. Not like he could remember anything anyways. So he opted to just leave the campus and look for a hospital.

_Maybe if they looked through my records, they can contact someone for me._

Not even taking three full steps towards the direction he was heading, he heard "GET DOWN." A black gloved hand shot out from behind him and roughly yanked him down by the collar of his uniform.

"Hey! What the hell! What's going on he-" Miyuki then realized the teenager in front of him was armed with a black sniper rifle firmly positioned on his shoulder.

"I apologize about the rough treatment just then."

The teenager looked to be around 5'11" and expression so composed not even a bomb looked like it could disturb it. The teenager's eyes narrowed before promptly asking "I know this is sudden, but will you enlist with us?"

Miyuki was slack-jawed still trying to comprehend the situation.

Tiny question marks floated around the older teen's face while he was awaiting a reply. Then realization hit him and made an "I got it" motion. He reached into the back of his pocket and fished out a glock 17 and tossed it into Miyuki's hand.

Miyuki looked down at the weapon in his clutch then looked back at the person who gave it to him.  
"Wait, I still don't understand anything! What reason do you even need a gun for? Wait, why did you give me one?" he yelled waving the gun around as he demanded answers once again.  
His intense stare never changing, he introduced himself. "My name is Yuuki Tetsuya, Captain of the Millitia League Battlefront (MLB for short)."

"Since you're here, that means you've died like the rest of us. This is the afterlife. Now please, use that gun and fight."

"Fight who exactly?"

As Yuuki didn't seem to be a man of many words, he just stated one name, "Monster."

Once again left speechless, Miyuki continued on.  
"Okay, I think I just need to get my head checked. Can you just direct me to a hospital?"  
Yuuki heard rustling and quickly ended the conversation. "Be quiet, he's coming." He positioned the rifle on his shoulder and aimed toward the specified target.

Miyuki turned to see who this 'Monster' was. In the distance across the field, all he could see was just a normal dark haired kid coming their way.

Another individual with an AK-47 strapped around his shoulder came running toward the two. "Hey Tetsuya! How's it going in recruiting the newbie?"  
"Ah, Jun." Yuuki said acknowledging the other member's presence. Jun looked up as he noticed the newbie walking away. "Hah? Where are you going?"

"I think I'll have better luck talking to that kid than gun toting weirdos."

"That arrogant son of a-" Jun started rolling up his sleeves but was stopped in his path.

Yuuki placed a hand in front of his comrade silently shaking his head. Yuuki looked ahead while suggesting, "Maybe it will be best if he were to find out for himself." Jun added nothing else and agreed to let the events unfold themselves.

_Seriously, who would trust those freaks?_

Miyuki walked casually toward the so called threat.  
"Hey, so those guys pointing a gun at you say you're some 'Monster'?" Furuya turned around and tilted his head to the side a bit at the accusation. His reply was just, "I'm no monster."

"Yeah, I figured." Not wanting to have to stand in front of this six foot tall behemoth any longer, he proceeded to ask "Say, can you tell me where I can get to a hospital from here?" Miyuki waited for any response. Finally he got an answer. But definitely not one he wanted. "There are no hospitals. Why would you need one when you're already dead?"

Miyuki's patience had reached the tipping point.

"So you're in on this too? Fine, prove to me I can't die since I'm already dead apparently!"

Furuya stood staring for a good four seconds before turning around and walking away. Miyuki speculated that this kid thought the conversation was too troublesome and decided to back out. But then he noticed the kid stopped in the middle of the field. Furuya turned back around to face Miyuki. He winded his arm back and put all his weight into the tip of his fingertips to pitch something faster than the human eye could keep track of.

Whatever it was, cut through the air like a fighter jet plane.

Miyuki was not even aware of what happened until he looked down at his chest. His eyes shook furiously as he witnessed the gaping hole where blood started flowing out. He tried gasping for any kind of air but instead he started coughing out blood. All Miyuki could do was collapse to the ground and watch as his consciousness rapidly faded away.

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**AN**: Yes, this is tragedy because they're all dead *sobs

Hope you guys liked the first chapter! Eijun should be out in the next one.

Regarding the last bit; You brought this on yourself buddy.


	2. The Welcome

Miyuki's eyes shot open the second he regained his senses. He remembered the wound on his chest and immediately sat up in the bed. With shaky hands, he kept tapping around his chest but slowed down as he discovered there was not even a single trace of last night's events. Nothing. Injuries as tiny as paper cuts lasted longer than what he received.

This left Miyuki stumped.

There was no doubt in his mind though that the pain he experienced felt way too real. He noticed as he finally took in his surroundings that he was in the school's infirmary.

Sunlight peeked through the window indicating it was sometime in the morning.

He was about to leave the place but seeing as how his top was removed, he judged it would be best to look for his shirt. He wanted to prevent attracting unwanted attention for something as insignificant as dress code.

He spotted it crumpled on the nightstand and went ahead to pick up the garment, but as he slowly lifted it up, heavy amounts of blood began dripping off of it.

Horrified, he threw the shirt across the room and dashed for the door. Just as he was about to push it open, someone on the other side got to it first.

It was that same bearded teen with the AK-47. Instead this time, he was carrying a halberd.

The bearded teen tossed him something. Miyuki caught it out of reflex. "It's a new uniform. I was sent to deliver it. Now quit standing there and follow me." he sneered turning around to head out the door.

Miyuki stood staring at the cloth and made up his mind.

"Like I said before, I think I'll have better luck going my own way. No offense, but I think your 'Captain' and his ways are just too overbearing for me. I'll find help myself. Good luck with you guys though and thanks for the uniform." Miyuki waved off with a tilt of a discourteous smile.

"...what did you say…" Jun growled in a low voice.

Miyuki turned his head not catching what was said.

"You disrespecting Tetsuya's leadership?" he questioned in animosity.

Firmly gripping the halberd like one would the handle of a baseball bat, Jun swung with all strength put forth.

"YOU-IN-SO-LENT-FU-CKING-BRAT" Each syllable earned Miyuki a new fatal gash.

He spat out. "Don't ever talk shit about Tetsuya again."

Jun hoisted the halberd back onto his shoulder and stomped out of the room grumbling under his breath "Damn fucking four eyes..."

Said four eyes was left to lie in his own scattered pool of blood.

_2 hours later_

Miyuki desperately gasped for air as he rapidly sat up. "He actually tried killing me there." He exclaimed ticked off. "But it feels like my wounds healed faster than before." remarking as he looked and felt around his body. Feeling like he was starting to understand the functions of the world little by little, he decided he was going to continue looking for anyone in charge of the school.

He stood up and clothed himself in the clean uniform Jun brought in earlier.

Miyuki headed out the door which lead to the hallway. Walking down the corridor, he eventually found his way to the Principal's office. He reached for the door knob but halted leaving his hand to float right above the handle. For some reason, he felt apprehensive. Warning signs kept flashing in the back of his head. Thinking about what he should do, he decided his uncertainty will get him nowhere. He settled on proceeding to walk forward. He entered slowly into the office, but the turn of the door knob triggered an over-sized mallet to fall from the ceiling.

The mallet's head slammed him through the window. Now Miyuki was falling several stories down the structure along with shards of glass enveloping him. Once again, being lead to his 'demise'.

"Hey, I think he's waking up."

"Someone call the Captain over."

"I say we should just knock him out again."

He just kept hearing unfamiliar voices echoing around the room.

Miyuki's vision blurred while strenuously trying to open his eyes. He sat up on the couch nursing his head.

In the hallway, two boys were racing down to the Student Council's meeting room. A timid voice called out, "Eijun, slow down!" It was from a pink haired boy. He was trying to catch up to the bundle of energy. "C'mon Harucchi, I heard we've got someone new joining us!" He hollered while motioning Haruichi to follow.

The two finally reached their destination but Eijun was the first to reach for the door. He turned it and walked in. "Sorry we're late! We just went to the bathroom." He apologized while rubbing the back of his head. Haruichi bowed his head, "Excuse us."

"There you two are. Hurry over. We're about to start a meeting and fill in the details for our new comrade." Eijun was by the door as he kept scanning around the room, but once he laid eyes on the new member, he stopped dead in his tracks. His face was frozen upon recognizing the person sitting on the couch. Miyuki just returned his stare by raising a single eyebrow toward the kid. Deathly silent, Eijun's eyes were shadowed underneath his hair and his form distressingly still.

_Why? How could he have died? He shouldn't be here!_

His hands started to clench tightly, almost to the point of breaking skin with his nails.

Miyuki disturbed by his reaction was about to reach out his hand to say something in regard to the younger teen.

Suddenly, small chuckles could be heard from him then it transformed into bursts of obnoxious laughter. The boy stood in a triumphant pose and declared "GYAHAHA WELCOME TO THE TEAM NEWBIE!" Yelling that earned him a strike to the top of his head from his senpai, Jun. "SHUT UP BRAT."

As the boy seemed fine by whatever that was about, Miyuki dismissed it as the kid just being weird.

"Beard-senpai, that really hurt." He whined while massaging the top of his own head.

"What gives you the right to shout shit like you're some Captain? Hmph, Tetsuya is the only suitable Captain I'll ever follow." he stated as he pointed a thumb toward Yuuki.

Yuuki was standing staring down Miyuki with arms crossing his chest. "So, have you decided to join our ranks?" he asked, still in pursuit of recruiting him.

No other option came to mind since everything he tried so far has killed him in one form or another. He sighed and reluctantly gave in, "Fine. I'll join your Battle Frontier Brigade or whatever."

"HYA-HA-HA, I knew you'd come around!" cackled the green haired teen.

Now that he had resolved with his decision, he asked, "So, remind me again what exactly this place is?"

"I'll let our strategist handle it from here." Yuuki stepped to the side to pass the attention to an individual holding a clipboard. Similar to the Captain's hard expression, this person's foreign features made one feel the need to tread cautiously. But his welcoming smile pushed out any previous thoughts.

"Yuuki might have briefly mentioned to you that this was the afterlife, correct?" questioned Chris toward Miyuki. He merely just nodded slowly in return.

"Well, it is. More specifically, it's limbo for teenagers such as yourself and I who may have come here with regrets in their past. Do you happen to know what regrets are haunting you still?"

Miyuki shocked a bit at the new information, he just shook his head. "No, I don't remember anything. Just my name." He scowled as he strained himself to try and extract anything from his mind.

"A lot of people come here with amnesia from head trauma so don't hurt yourself trying to remember..um.."

"Miyuki. Miyuki Kazuya." Yuuki's ears twitched as the thought just hit him that only just now did he found out the new member's name.

"Takigawa Chris Yuu." he stuck his hand out as he introduced himself.

Eijun barged into the conversation, "Hey, if you need a partner to guide you around, I'll be your guy!" he volunteered as he pointed at himself.

An arm reached around Eijun's neck to bind him in a headlock. "Sorry he's so troublesome. This annoying brat is Sawamura Eijun. And I'm Kuramochi Youichi."

Eijun kept squirming. "Let go Kuramochi!" he demanded while struggling to get out of his tight grip.

Kuramochi rubbed his knuckle on the top of Eijun's head. "Hey, don't forget to add Senpai at the end."

His teeth clenched. "All right! Just quit it Kuramochi-senpai!"

Miyuki chuckled interrupting their squabble.

Kuramochi and Eijun simultaneously looked up a bit awestruck at hearing the person who laughed. For the first time since arriving there, Miyuki actually relaxed. While watching the two, he decided to just go with the flow instead of constantly being up in arms all the time.

"Man kid, everyone seems to think you're a handful, huh?" Miyuki said with a teasing smirk.

Eijun's cheeks puffed up in irritation.

"What's that supposed to mean, huh?" he yelled while shaking a fist toward Miyuki.

"He's right though you know." Eijun was released out of the headlock. "You are a handful." Kuramochi added in.

Eijun wailed. "Chris-senpai! Everyone's bullying me!"

Then, Miyuki whole heartily laughed out loud.

"You're pretty entertaining. I'll take up that offer of yours." he grinned while resting his chin on his hand. Eijun crossed his arms like a child and turned his head away from Miyuki. "I don't know if I want to help some devil like you now." Miyuki lifted himself off the couch. "Aww, c'mon Sawamura. I'll try acting nicer from now on." He pledged as he placed an arm around the younger teen's shoulder.

Eijun's eyes widened a bit. The close contact caused a slight blush to reach his cheeks.

"Hey you two, stop flirting over there and listen up."

Eijun snapped himself out of his thoughts and removed Miyuki's arm off of him.

"Pay attention now morons!" Jun barked. "Here's the new plan." Everyone's eyes now directed to Captain Yuuki.

Yuuki's arms still crossed and eyes closed in thought, looked up in valor and finally said, "We'll call it-"

"Operation: Lunch Time Rush."

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**AN**: I'm sorry, I just had to add that last Kuroko no Basuke reference in.

This chapter was really fun to write! Hope you guys enjoyed it too.


	3. Operation: Lunch Time Rush

*glances at the last time I updated this* /hides

here it is though and hope you enjoy ;v;

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"This mission is of utmost importance. It will probably be the most crucial one out of your whole existence here." Everyone leaned in and listened with keen ears.

"Tonight, we will be-," When Yuuki could see everyone had focused their attention, he continued, "going to blow away the student's meal tickets!"

Each person in the room had a look of determination on their face. They seemed to be in agreement and understood with a serious expression, but Miyuki just stared dumb-founded.

Appalled by the idea, he protested. "Are you serious? We're stealing meal tickets from students?"

"We actually take meal tickets on a regular basis but this plan is a surefire way to get the top rated lunch dishes." The Captain said with the most stoic form.

Eijun agreed. "Yeah, I'm so tired of always having the least fulfilling items on the menu. If I can get my hands on the beef bowl ramen and a side dish of shrimp tempura…" His mouth started watering with an idiotic look on his face.

A few others in the crowd had a similar look while staring off into space.

"Our target is Furuya Satoru, AKA Monster. He'll most definitely be there trying to stop us. That arm of his is a dangerous weapon." Yuuki briefed the crowd.

"We'll have to surpass these hindrances as well." Chris said while stepping to the side.

A flat panel screen came down from the ceiling as the lights dimmed. The screen illuminated as it presented a slideshow of the various 'hindrances'. Miyuki was expecting that whatever showed up would look like beasts or demonic entities. But more slides kept passing through. To his bewilderment, they all looked so…normal? The photographs showed students ranging from the tennis club to a crowd walking by the library.

"Is there something wrong with the people of this school?"

All eyes landed on Miyuki.

"Hm?" Chris asked waiting for him to explain.

"You make them sound like…they're not human."

"Ah. We call them NPC's: Non-Player Characters. They're not normal humans like us. They never age, but then again, we don't age as well. They're purpose is just to simulate a normal school environment." Chris said as a matter-of-fact.

"NPC's huh. Is it something like those characters you see in games?" Chris was contemplating for a moment, and then decided the example was similar. "You can think of them that way. Go ahead and try talking to them. You'll just be getting a normal response in return, but other than that, they're not sentient."

Chris added, "Since you're still new here, you might find it difficult telling the difference between us and them."

Miyuki pressed his lips together thinking to consider what else he had in mind that he wanted to know about. Then he remembered the most obvious one.

"I know Monster is a force to be reckoned with, but why's he doing all this?"

"We believe he's working for some higher ups in this world. Monster always walks around with that aura of his. It scares the NPC's into behaving. He's somewhat like a hall monitor."

"Is he like the NPC's?" Miyuki wondered. "We don't know. He's pretty mysterious." Chris said.

Jun cut in to add his thoughts. "He's emotionless, unsociable, and it's creepy how he doesn't talk much. He just does whatever he's told to do like an emotionless robot."

"Like when I first met him, there was no hesitation in killing me."

Yuuki added, "I was watching. You sort of brought that on yourself." Miyuki sheepishly grinned and scratched the back of his head. He admitted. "Yeah, I kind of did."

"But yes, to him, it's no different than asking where the cafeteria is." Chris affirmed.

The word 'cafeteria' alerted Miyuki to look at the clock on the wall. It's 1:00pm. Does that mean lunch is over? "Shouldn't we be attending class right now?" He accidentally voiced his thoughts.

"You want to get obliterated or something, HUH?" Jun barked.

"Jun, calm down. He doesn't know."

Chris instructed Miyuki. "When you start acting like a student who follows the rules and gets accustomed to school life here, you just might end up disappearing from this world yourself." Maezono also cautioned. "We've seen it happen before so don't go trying to act like some model student." Miyuki made sure to keep that fact in mind.

"All right, we've briefed you enough; we have to move on to the mission."

"At 8:00 p.m., we'll be gathering all the NPC's in the auditorium; we'll blow away their meal tickets while our main distraction will occupy their attention. So give your respect to our very own all female rock band group, The Manager Miracles."

"Ladies, you can enter now."

Everyone looked behind themselves as four individual girls stepped into the room.

"Hello, I'm Fujiwara Takako, Lead Vocalist and Guitarist." she introduced confidently and coolly.

"Hey, I'm Natsukawa Yui, Lead Guitarist!" she said holding up a peace sign.

"Unemoto Sachiko, Drummer!" she smiled and had her hands on her hips.

"Ah! And I'm Yoshikawa Haruno, the bassist." The youngest member stated as she shyly bowed.

"So, are you clear about each of your positions?" Yuuki asked the girls. "Of course Captain." Fujiwara confirmed. "Good. Thank you for being so reliable."

The door suddenly slammed open as a frantic Kanemaru Shinji ran in.

"Bad news!"

"Why? What's wrong?" Yuuki asked concerned. Shinji kept breathing heavily from exhaustion. While still trying to catch his breath, he explained the situation. "O-our bullets, we've run out. And a lot of the weapons need to be repaired!"

"That really is a bump in the road. Change of plans. We must take half of the forces to go to the Guild in order to obtain artillery."

"The Guild?" A puzzled Miyuki asked.

"They're our allies in charge of producing weapons. The warehouse where they're hidden is deep underneath the school." Chris informed.

Yuuki structured a new order. "Team B will be stationed at the auditorium guarding it from Monster. My team, Team A, will be retrieving the weapons at the Guild. Chris, Haruichi, and Nabe will stay here at headquarters communicating with both parties."

The three of the intelligence group nodded before setting up the transmitting equipment. "Make sure to inform the Guild leaders, Raichi and Sanada, that we are on our way. And tell them to disarm the traps."

"Got it." Haruichi said in confirmation as he started typing rapidly away on the keyboard.

Yuuki called out names. "Jun, Azuma, Kawakami, Tanba, Masuko, Kuramochi, Sawamura, and Miyuki."

He looked up surprised having his name called upon. He was already being called into action. "You're all coming with me."

"Commence Operation: Lunch Time Rush."

Team A was led behind the school where heavy industrial double doors stood. Miyuki was astonished at how obvious they looked. He inwardly thought, '_Did no one really ever notice these doors_?'

Yuuki brought out a key from his pocket and unlocked it. It took two people to push open the heavy doors and motioned for the group to enter the dark tunnels that would lead to the Guild. They all walked in quietly and cautiously to not draw out attention. As they walked further in, they came across a metal latch and the middle of a dark corridor. When the top was twisted opened, it lead to a ladder. The group descended down one by one.

"It's been a while since the last time we went to the Guild." Kuramochi mentioned with his hands behind his head.

Yuuki had a communication device in one ear and listened in as he was receiving directions from Haruichi on how to get to their destination.

They entered the first passageway which was a long, dark, and dusty corridor. As they were walking, a question popped into Miyuki's head. He turned to Sawamura. "Has Chris ever joined in on these missions?" The younger replied. "Oh yeah, of course!" He beamed.

"I've only ever paired up with him once or twice. He always helped me get out of some tight jams in the past. I learned some really helpful stuff from him!"

Chris looked like an intimidating individual at first, but there was a sense of reliability surrounding the teen when Miyuki had first met him.

"I wish I could have seen him in action more often, but he's always busy coming up with strategies for everyone. Hm, what can you do." Sawamura shrugged.

The group kept walking and each wondering how long until their destination. Their supposed uneventful walk turned into panic when the ground started rumbling beneath them alerting everyone's senses. "What's happening?" Kawakami shouted. "I just got a message from Headquarters. They said the Guild activated the booby traps."

"What?! Why are the booby traps activated?" Azuma roared. "I thought they were disarmed!"

"There's only one reason why they would even be activated in the first place. Monster must be coming this way. Dammit, he must have followed us through the doors." Yuuki said distressed.

"Won't the traps be enough to take care of him?" Miyuki questioned. "No, they only stop him temporarily." Jun informed irritated.

"Everyone, be prepared. There will be an inevitable amount of sacrifices that must be made, but we must push through." Yuuki stated.

Miyuki turned to the person next to him and whispered. "Isn't that kind of irresponsible to admit?" Tanba raised an eyebrow toward him.

"Don't you remember?" Miyuki felt like he was missing something and sent him a puzzled look.

"We can't die. It's just…" His face turned bitter. "Insanely painful..." Miyuki was reminded of his awakening and the pain he felt from his injury resurfaced. He slowly placed a hand over his chest.

The group turned a corner to enter the second passageway and soon enough, they encountered the source of the rumbling, the first booby trap. A boulder was rolling toward them at a rapid speed promising to crush anything in its path. They swiftly turned the other way running as fast as their legs could take them. Yuuki yelled behind him. "Everyone, jump to the side at three! 1…2…3!"

They all followed the instruction and leapt to the sides of the path to avoid being crushed. As the boulder barreled its way through, it barely missed them by a hair. Unfortunately, it did get someone. Tanba was the furthest behind and was crushed mercilessly. An agony filled scream reached their ears alerting everyone on who became the first victim.

Everyone pushed themselves off the ground and dusted off any dirt on their clothing.

"Looks like everyone made it but Tanba. Let's head out."

"Are you sure he's gonna be okay?" Miyuki asked Kuramochi. "He'll eventually emerge back to the surface. So don't worry about it."

They made it to the third passageway. The group entered a darkened narrow hallway with only red lights lined at the bottom illuminating their view. Suddenly, the doors closed down accompanied with a click on both sides indicating that they were trapped in. The lights on the ceiling brightened up. All they heard was silence.

"What's happening?"

"I forgot! This is the room where it traps its victims." Kawakami yelled in late warning. "Why didn't you remember something so important?" Miyuki shouted infuriated at the jittery teen. "Sorry! I forget things when I get nervous." He firmly bowed in a ninety degree angle as an apology.

Yuuki scanned the area and realized the danger had already arrived. "Everyone, get down!" They all dropped to the ground, bodies flat on the floor. Miyuki dropped to the ground as well with his hands covering his head. He took a small glance up to see what exactly the threat was, but it seemed as if the threat had never shown up. Most of the others seemed to be confused as well, until someone had the clever idea to throw a smoke bomb. The danger finally revealed itself as it showed a single red laser cutting sharply across the hall.

"Make sure it doesn't come in contact with you. Do not doubt its ability to easily slice off one of your arms."

"Look out! It's coming for round two!" They cover their heads again as the laser doubled in lines and moved horizontally across the narrow room.

Yuuki yelled out again. "Here's round three!"

"What was round three?" Someone asked.

The lasers shifted around and formed an 'X' shape evolving into an even more dangerous threat than the last two since there was barely any wiggle room to avoid it. "How the hell are we supposed to evade that?"

"Every man for himself, now dodge!" As the lasers cut rapidly across the room toward their way, it had missed the smaller framed individuals on the ground or was dodged smoothly by someone like Kuramochi who jumped over it easily with his springy legs.

The lasers finally reached the back of the hallway to where Azuma was, but his body structure was too massive in size that it was impossible to dodge. Everyone looked away in horror in the nick of time as all they heard was a pain induced scream rip through the air and blood splattering to the ground. Someone in the room could be heard about to puke.

Yuuki reached out in front of him and broke open the lock. The group shoved each other while they scrambled out the door. They all took a moment to catch a breather on the ground.

"We lost Azuma-senpai this time." Jun reported in a dejected tone. He sniffled a bit. Yuuki put a hand on Jun's shoulder and 'tried' reassuring him. "Don't worry; his body will merge back together after getting shred to bits." Miyuki wondered if their Captain was always this obliviously insensitive. "Tch, that's what he gets for being such a big guy. We told him to go on a diet." Kuramochi reprimanded a departed Azuma.

Once catching their breath, they made it to the fourth passageway. They were cautiously watching out for any sudden movements. Without warning, they felt rumbling again.

"Is it another boulder?" Kuramochi yelled in question as he started to frantically look around.

Kawakami nervously took a step back. "No. I-I forgot. This is where the ceiling falls!" He pointed up to a ceiling that was getting closer to them by the second.

"Kawakami-senpai! Please remember details like that next time!" Eijun pleaded. They screamed as they were all preparing to be crushed by the oncoming weight. They were crouching low and cowering, but they all looked up to see nothing of the sort had happened. The group looked over and saw Masuko had managed to hold up the ceiling with his strength alone. "Masuko-senpai!" Eijun called out.

"It's o-kay Sa-wa-mura-chan." He struggled to say. "You guys-..get going." Eijun had tears streaming down his face impressed by Masuko's bravery. He wiped his tears and snot on his sleeve. "You're so cool Senpai." Masuko sent him a gentle smile his way. The rest took this opportunity to rush their way out to safety. Eijun was the last one to crawl out. With his body halfway past the exit, he was suddenly ridden with guilt. He felt the need to confess. "I'm sorry Masuko-senpai…I should have told you earlier, but…I was the one who ate your pudding!" Eijun blurted out. Masuko's eyes bulged right before his strength gave out and the ceiling crushed him.

"Masuko was sacrificed this time."

"It was a brave sacrifice. We can't let it go in vain."

"Come on. We have to keep moving."

They continued forward in a dimly lit room. The room was spacious and there didn't seem to be anything that would be a threat, but of course they couldn't trust any of their surroundings after what they have been through so far. They cautiously stepped forward paying close attention to any sudden movement not coming from them. Yuuki took another step forward, but something felt wrong. The tile he had stepped on just now felt, the best way he could describe it was 'loose'. He halted to others behind him to observe the ground further.

With everyone quiet, their ears could pick up a sound. It was another rumbling and the noise seemed to pick up in volume. The rumbling had reached their feet and they could conclude the threat was right below them. Yuuki realized that loose tile he'd just stepped on was the trigger. He immediately yelled for the group to, "Run!"

They dashed across the room but soon found the floor in front of them higher than before. They were falling as the ground was crumbling beneath them.

"Oh no. I forgot the pitfall!" Kawakami yelled as he fell hundreds of feet into darkness. "Dammit Nori. Why can't you remember!?" Kuramochi yelled.

As they were all falling, Yuuki managed to grab onto a ledge while someone else managed to clutch onto his legs. Jun was on top of the ledge holding on to Yuuki's arms trying to pull him up. It was far more difficult than he realized since it wasn't just the captain's weight he was pulling, but a long line of bodies holding on to one another for dear life. Yuuki and Jun's arms were straining from trying to sustain the group's weight in order to prevent them all from falling. Jun himself could feel some veins in his arms beginning to pop out.

Miyuki was the one who was holding onto the Captain's legs. Eijun was holding onto Miyuki since he was walking right behind him before the floor fell. Kuramochi was at the very bottom embracing Eijun and his legs.

"Is everyone all right?" The Captain called out. "We lost one!" Kuramochi responded. "Damn, we can't lose all of our forces here. The last person at the bottom, start climbing!" Yuuki yelled down.

Kuramochi began reaching for Eijun's blazer making sure his grip was steady. With his other hand, he gripped the material on Eijun's front side. He grabbed around his torso and Eijun started to fidget. "Hey, hold still goddammit." Kuramochi demanded the younger teen. "But K-kuramochi-s-senpai, th-that tickles!" He stuttered as he kept writhing around. Kuramochi's fingers were starting to slide down the blazer. "Shit, I'm slipping." Eijun tried hardening his stomach so it wouldn't tickle as much. Huffs of air kept slipping out of his nostrils from holding in the laughter. The torture of holding it in and keeping still made him reach his breaking point and he ended up accidentally kneeing Kuramochi in the stomach. The kick caused the teen to lose his grip. He frantically tried to grab whatever material to grip on, but his fingers couldn't hold his weight anymore. Kuramochi's hands slipped and he soon found himself falling to his 'death'.

"SAWAMURA, YOU STUPID FUUUUUUUCK!" His yelling faded as he fell off into the dark abyss.

Eijun was watching as he disappeared. He looked up at the others above him and his eyes widened when the thought occurred to him. "Aww man, I'm so dead. Kuramochi-senpai is going to kill me when he sees me again." If he wasn't holding on for dear life right now, he'd be clutching his head in a crouched position. Fat tears streamed down his face as he kept imagining his doom.

"Come on, there's no time to lose."

Eijun quickly shook the thought out for now and gathered himself to start his climb. He reach past the Miyuki's waist and grabbed his shoulders to boost himself up. He soon found himself being face-to-face with the bespectacled teen.

Both were staring directly into each other's eyes. The pair noted how their noses were mere centimeters apart from making contact.

Eijun nervously gulped.

"Sawamura, keep going." Miyuki reminded him. "Uh, right." Eijun looked up and kept climbing. He managed to make it up top, and then it was Miyuki's turn. Once it got to Yuuki, the other two grabbed their Captain by the arms to help him onto the ledge.

The remaining four were all trying to catch their breath and letting their muscles rest.

"I thought my arms were about to give out."

"Mine too. They're still shaking a little."

Eijun was on all fours with sweat dripping down his face. He asked the captain, "How many more of these traps to we have to get through?"

Yuuki brought up two fingers to his earpiece and listened in to intelligence. "They say we're almost there. Just a little longer and we should probably reach the Guild soon."

Eijun looked around the group pointing out the obvious. "There's only four of us left." Jun laughed under his breath. "I'm surprised you made it this far for being a newbie." He said to Miyuki. The other didn't reply, not wanting to let his gibe affect him.

Yuuki looked ahead toward the entrance of another passageway. "This way." The three followed him through the door which led to a dark stoned hallway. The lighting was dim. There was some torches on the walls of the hallway illuminating it. After reaching the other side of the hallway, they came across a room with a pool of water. Nothing seemed dangerous about it, but so did the previous traps.

"This looks really suspicious. I have a bad feeling about this one." Eijun said in an apprehensive tone.

"But look how the pool's edges are practically part of the sides of the wall. We can't walk across without falling in." Miyuki pointed out.

"I guess we have no choice but to swim across."

As they were walking toward the pool, Eijun spoke out. "Um, guys…" Three pairs of eyes turned back to look at him. Eijun looked away having gone silent. "N-never mind." They looked at each other, shrugged, and continued to enter the pool one by one. They started to swim and were almost halfway across the pool. Miyuki noticed someone wasn't with the group. "Sawamura, what are you doing?" He saw Sawamura was a ways behind grabbing onto the small edges with his fingers and moving across the water like that. "Don't mind me!" He shouted back. "I'll get there…hopefully…" He muttered the last bit.

They could see a ladder was just up ahead and were about to swim toward it. Suddenly, the water began to move in a clockwise motion. The ceiling opened up and gallons of waters fell on top of them. They were all caught off guard and were pushed below the surface. They immediately swam back up but the water was already swirling at violent and rapid speed. Before the water could drag him towards the middle, Yuuki took hold of the ladder with one arm and grasped Jun's collar with the other. While Jun managed to grab Miyuki by his arm, Miyuki tried holding his hand out for Eijun, but he was too far out to reach in time.

"Sawamura! Try and swim over here!" Miyuki called out.

Eijun kept frantically thrashing his arms around. When his head bobbed up through the surface, he hastily yelled out, "I-I can't swim!"

He tried to comprehend what the other had just said.

"What!? What do you mean you can't swim?" Miyuki quickly looked around the room trying to find anything to help him reach Sawamura. It was difficult to even think when water kept trying to invade his lungs and obstructing his vision.

Still helplessly flailing around, Eijun tried tilting his head back for air but water kept rushing in from all sides and entering his mouth. The whirlpool's current increased in strength and dragged the vulnerable boy into the eye. He disappeared beneath the water with his fingers being the last thing they saw before disappearing under the surface.

Yuuki and Jun had climbed to the top of the ladder and Jun heaved Miyuki up.

Miyuki was on his hands and knees coughing out water. The whirlpool immediately turned calm once it had obtained a victim. In a ragged breathe, Miyuki yelled out, "Sawamura! Hold on!" He was about to dive in until a hand firmly grabbed him by the shoulder. He turned his head swiftly to see who had stopped him. It was the Captain. Miyuki was vexed on why he didn't let him go save the youth. Yuuki gave him a steel look before closing his eyes into a solemn expression. "There's no use in trying. It's too late for him, look." He pointed toward the water as a body emerged to the surface. "C'mon, let's get going. He'll be fine!" Jun barked hurrying them. Miyuki took one last look at Eijun's back before following the other two.

Just three left. Yuuki, Jun, and Miyuki found a safe area to take a small rest. Exhausted, they sat with their backs against the wall and chin tilted up letting the air settle in their lungs.

They sat around for about five minutes not having said anything. When everything seemed to have calmed down, Miyuki decided to ask their leader a question.

"Hey uh…Captain?" Yuuki looked over toward him. "I was wondering, why did you decide to be the leader?" He asked while turning his way. Yuuki was mute for a while. It seemed he was just gathering his thoughts. He began to speak. "I was the first to fight back." Miyuki looked over to his senior waiting for him to elaborate. "A lot of people in the Battlefront, including myself, didn't want to disappear by the hands of Monster."

Yuuki went silent again.

"I actually used to have a little brother." Miyuki brows furrowed when he heard him say '_used to_'.

"Tetsuya, you don't have to." It was the first time Miyuki had heard the fervent teen sound so concerned.

"I was still fairly young at the time, but I knew as an older brother, it was my duty to protect him. Our parents had some business in town. They said I was old enough to look after my younger brother Masashi while they were gone. It was a night like any other night for us. I was upstairs grabbing a movie to watch with Masashi until I heard a commotion downstairs. I ran as fast as I could only to see two burglars holding up my brother. At first I was frozen with fear. But it was my brother they had. So I ran to them at full speed to fight them. It's actually no surprise that one of them was able to knock out a kid unconscious with a single punch. When I woke up, I was already in the hospital. They told me some neighbors had called police because of some suspicious people lurking around the neighborhood. The police made it in time before the burglars were going to get to me next, but…" Yuuki rested his forehead on his clasped hands in front of him. His broad shoulders began to shake as recalled that horrific night. "They had already killed my brother."

Jun looked down solemnly at the ground. Miyuki was stunned to hear this coming from their captain. He didn't trust himself to say anything in this moment.

"We've already lost so many of our comrades. I know everyone will be back nice and healthy. But I still feel like I failed as a captain." Yuuki gripped his hands tight in frustration. "I feel like being in this limbo is a constant reminder that I really am the worst big brother." Droplets started to form in the corner of his eyes as his teeth clenched together.

A hand laid gently on top Yuuki's head. The same hand pulled him down to rest on a shoulder. Yuuki glanced up to see Jun looking straight ahead when he told Yuuki, "It wasn't your fault. You did the best you could." Yuuki held on to Jun's blazer with unsteady hands as he quietly began to weep and let out all his bottled emotions. Miyuki felt like he was witnessing something he shouldn't have and looked away.

"I apologize for breaking down like that." Miyuki didn't understand why he should be apologizing when he was the one who opened up such a painful wound.

"We have to get going. The communicator got lost in the water, but the Guild should be up ahead."

Just like the captain said, they had finally reached their destination after powering through what seemed like endless traps. The guards in front of the doors had let them pass and walk into the hidden underground factory full of heavy machinery and workers in brown jumpsuits. Two people were walking toward them, which Miyuki assumed were the Guild's leaders, Sanada and Raichi.

The shorter teenager with the large scar on his cheek lifted up his goggles over his eyes and slid them to the top of his head. "You guys made it!"

Taking a look at their appearance and the few remaining in the group, Sanada commented, "Those traps really must have done a number on you."

They all looked at Sanada with a similar expression, all of them practically saying 'You have no idea'.

"I've got something amazing to show you guys." Raichi dashed off into a back room to retrieve an object. He came back out holding a weapon as large as him resting proudly on his shoulder. "Feast your eyes on my new invention, The Ba-NaNa-Zooka!" Sanada face palmed. Held in Raichi's arms was a standard bazooka simply painted in yellow. Sanada tried to explain it to the three. "I tried to stop him, I really did. But his obsession with bananas is just out of this world." Sanada couldn't help but chuckle when he saw the look of disbelief on their faces. "Don't worry. Our men prepared you guys with all the weapons you could need." Workers rolled in large bins filled with various kinds of firearms and bullets to go along with them.

Yuuki sincerely expressed his gratitude. "Thank you for your help and cooperation. If this mission is a success, please join us for dinner."

"Thanks for the offer, but we'll probably have our hands full having to relocate the Guild now that it's been discovered by Monster." Sanada explained.

Yuuki nodded his head in understanding and led his group to the exit with the men wheeling in the weapons behind them. Before forgetting, he turned toward the Guild leaders and mentioned, "Oh right, please don't forget to deactivate the traps. We'd like to have our comrades back."

Sanada pointed and winked at them. "Got it."

Sanada and Raichi went into the control room and pulled up multiple levers to reset the traps and let anyone who was caught in them get out. As the traps were deactivated, multiple bodies rose up from their fallen position. The ceiling that was crushing Masuko raised back into the ceiling. Azuma stood up, the bottom half of his shirt falling down from being cut by the laser. Kawakami and Kuramochi got up with their uniform torn where the spikes had impaled them. The water drained in the whirlpool room and Eijun got up and shook his head as droplets of water fell off his hair. He twisted a part of his drenched uniform to extract the water. He loudly exclaimed to no one. "Man, drowning sucks!"

Everyone rushed back to the school and gathered back into the student council room. The weapons were quickly delivered to Headquarters where everyone grabbed a firearm. There was a wide range of various weapons, from a 44 magnum, to an Uzi submachine gun.

With each of their selected choice, both teams ran toward the auditorium with gun in hand and a determined look lacing their expressions. The auditorium was almost in reach when they stopped in their tracks facing their dreaded obstacle. It was none other than Monster. He stood there tall with his usual stoic face. He started to step toward the group. Yuuki yelled out. "Fire with all you have!" Every weapon was shooting at Monster, but he just kept deflecting the barrage of bullets with his right arm as he calmly walked toward them. There was a sense of frustration among the group witnessing how little damage their entire firepower was doing.

They did have the upper hand though, and it came in the form of a rocket launcher sloppily painted in yellow. "I forgot to show you my other masterpiece." Raichi said with an ecstatic grin. He launched the projectile and it cut through the air toward Monster. Furuya only had a split-second to notice it coming. He moved his right arm down to his side to block the rocket, but the force of it pushed him clear across the field and disappeared into the woods. A fiery explosion could be seen from their position.

Everyone looked at Raichi stunned and/or impressed. With a hand on his waist and the rocket launcher on his shoulder, Raichi looked toward the captain and said, "I want Tonkatsu."

Yuuki nodded with his usual serious expression. He then looked around to the rest of the group and reminded everyone, "Let's move on to the auditorium now. It's almost time. That explosion will only keep Monster down temporarily."

8pm had finally hit. In the auditorium, a large group of NPC students were gathered somewhat confused at the reason they were told to gather there. The lights dimmed and bright spotlights pointed toward the center of the stage to reveal the all-female band, the Miracle Managers. When they were given the go ahead to start the concert, Takako, the lead vocalist pumped the crowd up by speaking into the mic and shouting, "Are you all ready to rock?!" The applause she received was astounding as all the NPCs were excited for the show.

They began distracting the students with their first song. During the middle of the group's performance, oversized electronic fans hidden behind the curtains had successfully blown away the pieces of paper held between the hands in the crowd. A multitude of meal tickets had flown to the back of the crowd allowing the chance for them to grab a meal ticket and escape.

Miyuki opened his hand wide open and a ticket had flown into it. He quickly enclosed it in a fist and brought it down in front of him. He looked up to see teachers and multiple authority figures rushing into the auditorium to break everything up and capture any misbehaving students. The Captain yelled at everyone to get moving. Kuramochi ran up to Miyuki and quickly asked. "Did you get the one you want?" Miyuki showed him his meal ticket and Kuramochi just yelled back. "Alright, good. Now hurry! We gotta go!" He slapped him on the back and started to sprint forward.

Miyuki stared down at his meal in disbelief as this was their reward for their torturous efforts. They were in the cafeteria sitting together at a long table.

When he took a look around the dining hall, all he could see was everyone happily chowing down on the food they successfully acquired with their meal ticket. There was boisterous laughter all around. Miyuki didn't seem to understand it, but he had guessed the mission was a success. An amused smirk littered his face. Kuramochi was walking by and stopped as he spotted something peeking out of Miyuki's hair. "There's something stuck in your hair." He picked it off and looked down at it. "Hey, that's pretty lucky. It's another meal ticket." Kuramochi handed it back to Miyuki. He took it, stared down at the piece of paper and read it. A devilish smile slipped onto his face. A wonderfully wicked idea had appeared in his head.

He brought his tray over to a certain golden eyed boy. "Sawamura, could I sit with you?" He asked with a friendly tone. Eijun looked over with cheeks stuffed with food. He gulped it down to be able to answer. "Uhh, sure."

Miyuki sat down next to the boy and pretended to eat his meal. He excitedly proclaimed with great enthusiasm, "Wow, this is really good! Hey Sawamura, you should try it." Miyuki held up his spoon and brought it up to Eijun's mouth. The other looked down at the spoon and decided to take a bite of the offer and began to chew the food. His chewing slowed down when a burning feeling started to spread through the inside of his mouth. His face begun to turn a deep shade of red. Huge amounts of sweat rapidly dripped down his face. Eijun's tongue felt like it was on fire and he dashed out of his seat in immediate seek of water.

Everyone's eyes followed Eijun as he ran out the door while Miyuki was laughing his head off, pounding a fist on the table.

The item on the meal ticket read: Mega Spicy Mapo Doufu.

* * *

I don't plan to drop this story since I have most of the ending written and other scattered parts for chapters, but i can't predict when their updates will be. ;o;

This chapter was fun though! Let me know your thoughts too~


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